The
Crusades

The Fourth
Crusade, begun by Innocent III in 1202, intended to retake
the Holy Land but was soon subverted by Venetians who used the
forces to sack the Christian city of Zara. Innocent excommunicated the Venetians and
crusaders. Eventually the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, but
due to strife which arose between them and the Byzantines, rather than proceed to the Holy
Land the crusaders instead sacked Constantinople and other parts of
Asia Minor effectively establishing the Latin Empire of Constantinople in Greece
and Asia Minor. This was effectively the last crusade sponsored by
the papacy; later crusades were sponsored by individuals. Thus,
though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other
strongholds in the Near East would remain in Christian possession
much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to
establish permanent Christian kingdoms.

Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat
for centuries culminating in the campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent in
the sixteenth century. On the other hand, the crusades in southern
Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily eventually lead to the demise of
Islamic power in the regions; the Teutonic knights expanded
Christian domains in Eastern Europe, and the much less frequent
crusades within Christendom, such as the Albigensian
Crusade, achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal
unity.[1]

The final breach is often considered to have arisen after the
capture and sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in
1204. Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic
crusaders was not exclusive to the Mediterranean though
(see also the Northern Crusades and the Battle of the
Ice). The sacking of Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom
and establishment of the Latin Empire as a seeming attempt to
supplant the Orthodox Byzantine Empire in 1204 is viewed
with some rancour to the present day. Many in the East saw the
actions of the West as a prime determining factor in the weakening
of Byzantium. This led to the Empire's eventual conquest and fall
to Islam. In 2004, Pope John Paul II extended a formal
apology for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204; the apology was
formally accepted by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
Many things that were stolen during this time: holy relics, riches, and many other
items, are still held in various Western European cities,
particularly Venice.

High Scholasticism
and its contemporaries

Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus, which means
"that [which] belongs to the school", and was a method of learning
taught by the academics (or schoolmen) of
medieval universities
circa 1100–1500. Scholasticism originally began to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient
classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology. It is not
a philosophy or theology in itself, but a tool and method for
learning which puts emphasis on dialectical reasoning. The primary
purpose of scholasticism was to find the answer to a question or
resolve a contradiction. It is most well known in its application
in medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical
philosophy and many other fields of study.

The 13th Century saw the attempted suppression of various groups
perceived as heterodox, such as the Cathars and Waldensians and the
associated rise of the mendicant orders (notably the Franciscans and Dominicans), in part intended as a form of
orthodox alternative to the heretical groups. Those two orders
quickly became contexts for some of the most intense scholatsic
theologizing, producing such 'high scholastic' theologians as Alexander of
Hales (Franciscan) and Thomas Aquinas (Dominican), or the
rather less obviously scholastic Bonaventure (Franciscan). The century also
saw a flourishing of mystical theology, with women such as Mechthild of Magdeburg playing a
prominent role. In addition, the century can be seen as period in
which the study of natural philosophy that could anachronistically
be called 'science' began once again to flourish in theological
soil, in the hands of such men as Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon.

References

Crusades

Fourth Crusade
1202–1204

The Crusader states established in Greece in the aftermath of the
Fourth Crusade.

The Fourth Crusade was initiated in 1202 by Pope Innocent
III, with the intention of invading the Holy Land through
Egypt. Because the Crusaders lacked the funds to pay for the fleet
and provisions that they had contracted from the Venetians, DogeEnrico Dandolo enlisted the crusaders to
restore the Christian city of Zara (Zadar) to obedience. Because they subsequently
lacked provisions and time on their vessel lease, the leaders
decided to go to Constantinople, where they attempted to
place a Byzantine exile on the throne. After a series of
misunderstandings and outbreaks of violence, the Crusaders sacked the city in 1204,
and established the so-called Latin Empire and a series of other Crusader states
throughout the territories of the Greek Byzantine Empire. This is
often seen as the final breaking point of the Great Schism between the Eastern Orthodox Church and (Western) Roman Catholic Church.

Fourth Crusade
and various violent conflicts

During the Fourth Crusade, however, Latin crusaders
and Venetian merchants sacked Constantinople, looting The Church of Holy
Wisdom and various other Orthodox Holy sites and converting The
Church of Holy Wisdom and other holy sites from Orthodox Christian
sites to Roman Catholic ones. These churches' and monasteries' holy
artifacts were taken to the West, and many of these artifacts have
yet to be returned. This was proceeded by a European backed
attempted conquest of Byzantium, Greece, and Bulgaria (see the Battle of Adrianople
(1205)) and other "Eastern" Christian countries which led to
the establishment of the Latin Empire of the East and the Latin Patriarch of
Constantinople (with various other Crusader states). This period of
chaotic rule over the sacked and looted lands of the Byzantine
Empire is still known among Eastern Christians as Frangokratia. The
sacking of Constantinople is also seen as a factor that weakened
Byzantium and led to its to fall to Islam. Various crusades before
and after targeted and massacred Orthodox Christians (see the Northern crusades for example). [4]
The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer OrthodoxRussia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod),
an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX,[4]
can also be considered as a part of the Northern Crusades. One of
the major blows to the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the
Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also
undertook several crusades
against Orthodox Novgorod. These crusades solidified the schism
between East and West. Recent violence perpetuating the schism
between the two groups happened in World War II (see the Ustashe, Benito
Mussolini's invasion of Greece) and the Balkan Wars of the
1990s.

Crusades against the
Eastern Orthodox

The final breach between East and West is often considered to
have arisen after the capture and sacking of Constantinople by
the Fourth
Crusade in 1204. Crusades against Christians in the East by
Roman Catholic crusaders were not exclusive to this crusade nor the
Mediterranean. The sacking of
Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom, the destruction of
the Monastery of Stoudios, Library of Constantinople and
the establishment of the Latin Empire in Constantinople and also
throughout West Asia Minor and Greece (see the Kingdom of Thessalonica, Kingdom of
Cyprus) are considered definitive though. This is in light of
perceived Roman Catholic atrocities not exclusive to the capital
city of Constantinople in 1204 starting the period in the East
referred to as Frangokratia. The establishment of the
Latin Empire in 1204 was intended to supplant the Orthodox Byzantine
Empire. This is symbolized by many Orthodox churches being
converted into Roman Catholic properties and churches like Hagia Sophia and Church of the Pantokrator, and it is viewed
with some rancor to the present day. Some of the European Christian
community actively endorsed the attacking of Eastern
Christians.[5]

Establishment
of the Roman Catholic Eastern Empire

After the Sack of
Constantinople in 1204 AD by Roman Catholic Crusaders as part
of the fourth crusade, much of Asia Minor was brought under Roman
Catholic rule and the Latin Empire
of the East was established. As the conquest by the European
crusaders was not exclusive to the fourth crusade many various
kingdoms of European rule where established. After the fall of
Constantinople to the Latin West the Empire of Nicaea was established which
was later to be origin of the Greek monarchy that defeated the
Latin forces of Europe and re-established Orthodox Monarchy in
Constantiople and Asia Minor.

After
the First Crusade

In the 13th century, Crusades never expressed such a popular
fever, and after Acre fell for the last time in 1291 and
the OccitanCathars were
exterminated during the Albigensian Crusade, the crusading
ideal became devalued by Papal justifications of political and
territorial aggressions within Catholic Europe.

Albigensian
Crusade

The Albigensian Crusade was launched in
1209 to eliminate the hereticalCathars of Occitania (the south of modern-day France). It was a decade-long
struggle that had as much to do with the concerns of northern
France to extend its control southwards as it did with heresy. In
the end, both the Cathars and the independence of southern France
were exterminated.

After a papal
legate was murdered by the Cathars in 1208, Pope Innocent
III declared the Albigensian Crusade.[9]
Abuses committed during the crusade caused Innocent III to
informally institute the first papal inquisition to prevent future
aberrational practices and to root out the remaining Cathars.[10][11]
Formalized under Gregory IX, this Medieval inquisition executed an average of
three people per year for heresy at its height.[11][12]
Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or
secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of
Moorish invasion or for
political purposes.[13]
The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who
did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture
or execution by burning.[13][14]

Children's
Crusade

The Children's Crusade is a series of possibly fictitious or
misinterpreted events of 1212. The story is that an outburst of the
old popular enthusiasm led a gathering of children in France and
Germany, which Pope Innocent III interpreted as a
reproof from heaven to their unworthy elders. The leader of the
French army, Stephen, led 30,000 children. The leader of the German
army, Nicholas, led 7,000 children. None of the children actually
reached the Holy Land: those who did not return home or settle
along the route to Jerusalem either died from shipwreck or hunger, or were sold into slavery in Egypt or North Africa.

Fifth Crusade
1217–1221

By processions, prayers, and preaching, the Church attempted to
set another crusade afoot, and the Fourth Council of the
Lateran (1215) formulated a plan for the recovery of the Holy
Land. In the first phase, a crusading force from Austria and Hungary joined the forces of the king of
Jerusalem and the prince of Antioch to take back
Jerusalem. In the second phase, crusader forces achieved a
remarkable feat in the capture of Damietta in Egypt in 1219, but under the
urgent insistence of the papal legate, Pelagius, they then launched a
foolhardy attack on Cairo in
July of 1221. The crusaders were turned back after their dwindling
supplies led to a forced retreat. A night-time attack by the ruler
of Egypt, the powerful Sultan Al-Kamil, resulted in a great number of
crusader losses and eventually in the surrender of the army.
Al-Kamil agreed to an eight-year peace agreement with Europe.

In 1229 after failing to conquer Egypt, Frederick II of the Holy Roman
Empire, made a peace treaty with Al-Kamil, the ruler of Egypt. This treaty
allowed Christians to rule over most of Jerusalem, while the
Muslims were given control of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa
mosque. The peace brought about by this treaty lasted for about ten
years.[15] Many
of the Muslims though were not happy with Al-Kamil for giving up
control of Jerusalem and in 1244, following a siege, the Muslims regained
control of the city.[16]

Seventh Crusade
1248–1254

The papal interests represented by the Templars
brought on a conflict with Egypt in 1243, and in the following year
a Khwarezmian force summoned by the latter
stormed Jerusalem. The crusaders were drawn into battle at La
Forbie in Gaza. The crusader
army and its Bedouin mercenaries were completely defeated within
forty-eight hours by Baibars' force of Khwarezmian
tribesmen. This battle is considered by many historians to have
been the death knell to the Kingdom of Outremer. Although this provoked no
widespread outrage in Europe as the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 had
done, Louis IX of France organized a
crusade against Egypt from 1248 to 1254, leaving from the newly
constructed port of Aigues-Mortes in southern France. It was
a failure, and Louis spent much of the crusade living at the court
of the crusader kingdom in Acre. In the midst of this crusade was
the first Shepherds' Crusade in 1251.

Eighth
Crusade 1270

The eighth Crusade was organized by Louis IX
in 1270, again sailing from Aigues-Mortes, initially to come to the
aid of the remnants of the crusader states in Syria. However, the crusade was diverted to Tunis, where Louis spent only two
months before dying. For his efforts, Louis was later canonised.
The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the
Fifth and Sixth Crusades are counted as a single crusade. The Ninth
Crusade is sometimes also counted as part of the Eighth.

Ninth Crusade
1271–1272

The future Edward I of England undertook
another expedition against Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis
on the Eighth Crusade. Louis died in Tunisia. The Ninth Crusade was
deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East.[17]

In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian Mamluks,
the Crusaders' hopes rested with a Franco-Mongol alliance. The Ilkhanate's Mongols were thought to be
sympathetic to Christianity, and the Frankish princes were most
effective in gathering their help, engineering their invasions of
the Middle East on several occasions. Although the Mongols
successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns,
the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west
was repeatedly frustrated most notably at the Battle of
Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks eventually made good their
pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the Franks. With the
fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli
(1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians
unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved and the last
traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared.[18][19]

Northern Crusades
(Baltic and Germany)

Between 1232 and 1234, there was a crusade against the Stedingers. This crusade
was special, because the Stedingers were not heathens or heretics,
but fellow Roman Catholics. They were free Frisian farmers who resented attempts of the
count of Oldenburg and the archbishop Bremen-Hamburg to make an end to their
freedoms. The archbishop excommunicated them, and Pope Gregory IX
declared a crusade in 1232. The Stedingers were defeated in
1234.

Second
Council of Lyon

Reunion
attempts

The Second Council of Lyon was
convoked to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the
Eastern church with the West.[20]
Wishing to end the Great Schism that
divided Rome and Constantinople,
Gregory X had sent an embassy to Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had
reconquered Constantinople, putting an end to the remnants of the
Latin Empire in
the East, and he asked Latin despots in the East to curb their
ambitions. On June 29, 1274, Gregory X celebrated a Mass in St John's Church, where both sides took
part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed “the
supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic
Church.”

The council was seemingly a success, but did not provide a
lasting solution to the schism; the Emperor was anxious to heal the
schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. However,
Michael VII's son and successor Andronicus II repudiated the
union.

Mongol
invasions

The wave of Mongol invasions, which had initially
commenced in the early 13th century under the leadership of Genghis Khan, marked
a violent end to the Abbasid era. The Mongol Empire had spread rapidly
throughout Central Asia and Persia: the Persian city of Isfahan had fallen to them by
1237. With the election of Khan Mongke in 1251, Mongol sights were set upon the
Abbasid capital, Baghdad. Mongke's brother, Hulegu, was made the head of
the Mongol Army assigned the task of subduing
Baghdad. This was achieved at the Battle of Baghdad (1258), which saw the
Abbasids overrun by the superior Mongol army. The last Abbasid
caliph, al-Musta'sim, was captured and killed; and
Baghdad was ransacked and subsequently destroyed. The cities of
Damascus and Aleppo fell
shortly afterwards, in 1260. Any prospective conquest of Egypt was
temporarily delayed due to the death of Mongke at around the same
time.[21]

With Mongol conquest in the east, the Ayyubid dynasty ruling over Egypt had
been replaced by a man who was born prince struggled as a slave
named Mamluks also known as
Lion of Ain Jaloot in 1250. This had been done through the marriage
between Shajar
al-Durr, the widow of Ayyubid caliph al-Salih Ayyub, with
the Mamluk general Aybak.
Military prestige was at the center of Mamluk society, and it
played a key role in the confrontations with the Mongol forces.
After the assassination of Aybak, and the succession of Qutuz in 1259, the Mamluks
challenged and decisively routed the Mongols at the Battle of
Ain Jalut in late 1260. This signalled an adverse shift in
fortunes for the Mongols, who were again defeated by the Mamluks at
the Battle of
Hims a few months later, and then driven out of Syria
altogether.[21]
With this, the Mamluks were also able to conquer the last of the
crusader territories.

Russia under Muslim Mongol
rule

Russia lay under Mongol rule from the 13th through the 15th
century. The Mongol invasion
of Rus of 1237–1242AD lead to what is called the Tatar period in
Russian History. This period lead to great calamity for the
internal structure of Russia. Much of Russia was ruled by Mongols
and Russian Princes (of whom had limited power). The eventual end
of the reign of the Golden Horde is said to have begun with the Battle of
Kulikovo 8 September 1380. Which involves the famous Eastern
Orthodox legend of Monk and Russian champion Alexander
Peresvet and his death that mark the battle's beginning. The
final pseudo-battle or face off that ended Mongol rule in Russia
was the Great stand on the Ugra
river in 1480AD. The death toll (by battle, massacre, flooding,
and famine) of the Mongol wars of conquest is placed at about 40
million according to some sources.[22]

Russian
Orthodox Church

Though Russia was under conquest by the Mongols. Mongol rule
lasted from the 13th (Genghis Khan's army entered Russia in
1220s) through the 15th century, the Russian church enjoyed a
favored position, obtaining immunity from taxation in 1270. Through
a series of wars with Muslim countries the church did indeed
establish itself as the protector of Orthodoxy (see the Eastern
Question and the Russo-Turkish wars).

Ottoman
Empire

The Seljuk Turks fell apart rapidly in the second half of the
13th century, especially after the Mongol invasion of
Anatolia.[23] This
resulted in the establishment of multiple Turkish principalities,
known as beyliks. Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, assumed leadership of one
of these principalities (Söğüt) in 1281, succeeding his father Ertuğrul. Declaring an
independent Ottoman emirate in 1299, Osman I led it to a series of
consecutive victories over the Byzantine Empire. This would mark
the beginning of the next major power in the Middle East, which
would rise after the Seljuk Turk empire crumbled.

1260 Date which a 1988 Vatican sponsored scientific study
places the origin of the Shroud of Turin

1263 July 20-24, The Disputation of Barcelona was
held at the royal palace of King James I of Aragon in the presence
of the King, his court, and many prominent ecclesiastical
dignitaries and knights, between a convert from Judaism to
Christianity Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani and Rabbi Nachmanides

1266 - Mongol leader Khan sends Marco Polo's father and uncle, Niccolo and
Matteo Polo, back to Europe with a request to the Pope to send 100 Christian missionaries (only two
responded and one died before reaching Mongol territory) [30]

1274 Summa
Theologiae, written by Thomas Aquinas, theologian and
philosopher, landmark systematic theology which later became
official Catholic doctrine

^"Fourth Crusade,
1202-1204" Even after Greek control of Byzantium was
re-established, the empire never recovered the strength it had had
even in 1200, and the sole effect of the fourth crusade was to
weaken Europe's chief protection against the Turks.

^ Vidmar, The
Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 144–7, quote:
"The Albigensian Crusade, as it became known, lasted until 1219.
The pope, Innocent III, was a lawyer and saw both how easily the
crusade had gotten out of hand and how it could be mitigated. He
encouraged local rulers to adopt anti-heretic legislation and bring
people to trial. By 1231 a papal inquisition began, and the friars
were given charge of investigating tribunals."

^ ab
Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church
(2004), p. 132, quote: "A crusade was proclaimed against these
Albigenses, as they were sometimes called ... It was in
connection with this crusade that the papal system of Inquisition
originated-a special tribunal appointed by the Popes and charged
with ferreting out heretics. Until then the responsibility devolved
on the local bishops. However, Innocent found it necessary in
coping with the Albigensian threat to send out delegates who were
entrusted with special powers that made them independent of the
episcopal authority. In 1233 Gregory IX organized this ad
hoc body into a system of permanent inquisitors, who were
usually chosen from among the mendicant friars, Dominicans and
Franciscans, men who were often marked by a high degree of courage,
integrity, prudence, and zeal."

^ Norman, The Roman
Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 93